Sunday, June 8, 2008

I am ok now... thanks for your concern about electricity supply... here in Bandung we rarely use air con, we have 25 Celcius almost everyday... so nice isn't it? *wink* I had fun taking photographs of Cliff blowing a candle, I'll show you later! So many things to share so little time to blog!! I just can't blog and get online because my kids keep me busy... Now I have to be quick as well as Cliff is waiting for me. Here's a little thing about everything...

1. I said good bye to my diaries... 5 books, all burnt down... and still got 10 more to be burnt!

Now you know why I am a chronic blog addict... hehehe... I've been writing about everything in my whole life! Quite hard to burn all the memories without even reread them but I think the past have to be the past... too many heart ache and memories to remember, not good... useless... Do you think so?

2. Remember the mosquito trap I bought? I got the picture of the moz for you!! Count how many mozzes got trapped from Clay's bedroom... can you?

Yeah! So happy to get 4 mozzes alive!! Ha ha ha ha.. Now I really can be free from the mosquito disinfectant! No chemical, no odor, no sound... so love this trap!! Can't live without it now... hehehe...

3. My parents' house will be rented, I'm busy moving and packing all things to our house! Will tell you about this later.. hehehe.. now, it's so late at night!

Question of the day:Do you write a diary before? Do you keep them or burn them down? :-)

Monday, June 2, 2008

Thank you friends for your well wishes! I am fine now, and so do the kids, praise the Lord! My hubby was away for a week, he will be back on June 3rd so I take care of the kids by myself. I must say that I am quite relieved that I don't take the opportunity to go to Europe with my hubby this time. Clay is having his final test for these 2 weeks so I also am busy preparing him for the test! I am sure I will not be able to enjoy the (free) trip while Clay is facing the final test without his parents...

I am glad my mom and grandma visit us this weekend so we don't feel lonely without my hubby around. :-) My grandma is 79 years old and has just got a gall surgery last week! At her age, she can't be covered by insurance like NC health insurance, but thank God all the process went well. She even went home the next day after the surgery, what a strong lady! She got 39 black pebbles in her gall! I am glad all of them are gone now.. phew....

Having a grandma at home (grand-grandma for my children) is the priceless moment for me and my children. All of us, four generations under one roof... hahaha... such a blessing!

At night, I was so surprise to hear that she was talking alone in Clay's room. I thought she was on the phone call, but it was late at night already! I opened the door and saw her sitting on the bed, rubbing her stomach, with her eyes closed, uttering her prayers just like she was talking intimately with her best friend! What a beautiful sight I saw that night....

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Remember that my dad has passed away in 2005? Today is his birthday! This morning I told my kids about this in the car on the way to church. Clay spontaneously sang "Happy birthday Grandpa" and we sang together happily. Though we know that he is not here with us anymore, we love to remember him in this special day. I called my mom to tell her about this, she said my sister also remembered this special day.

I write a special post as my Tribute to my dad, please visit the blog and tell me what you think. I would really appreciate it if you also could write a post about your dad and email it to me. I will treasure your post in Tribute to Dads blog as a precious collection! I need to make clear statement here, that the blog is not in loving memoriam blog... it is Tribute to Dad... and if your dad is alive and you can give him a tribute, it is much much better, isn't it? Do email me your tribute to your dad to: tutug.rice [at] gmail [dot] com. Don't wait until your dad is gone and you are too late to ponder how precious it is to have a dad! Yes, I admit that most of the posts in the blog are dedicated to dads who has passed away... so sad... I think it is because we doesn't aware how much we miss him until we lost him. No? So, why don't you write about him now?

Something do happen today... unusual! Hail storm in my neighborhood! Here is 23.7 celcius and there was ice rain (hail?) that never happened before. Incredible! Surprising! Thrilling! We just thought it was an usual ice rain... just for a moment only, but the rain was so noisy that we ran to the window to see what happened. You can see the picture no.1, we already surprised to see so many ice outside, but then the hail was not stopped.

Then it became like this!

In 4 seasons countries, this kind of rain is not abnormal, isn't it? But we really never saw this before! The right picture above was taken from Clay's bedroom window... Amel, you must be so surprise that we have 'snow' in Bandung! LOL

Thank God the hail doesn't ruin fiber optic cables so I still can get internet connection and blog. Poor plants...they are ruined... My bedroom's ceiling was leak as well.. So many ice stuck on our roof. Thanks to my hubby for his help moving all the ice from the roof to the drainage ditch behind our house. He got a hot water shower and a hot chocolate milk after working so hard. :-)

One more thing, don't forget to wait for the CHUP result on April 1th ok! I will have a very special post that day... don't miss the chup as well!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

I posted before that I was a graphic designer for a teenager bible-study series before. Several weeks ago, I went to the Christian bookstore and found the series. Here they are!

We used some pictures as a cover, and one of them is using my pictures, can you notice which one? *grin*

Today my mom and I visit my cousin. He is very sick, his legs are so big, swollen... they are poor and they can't afford to hospitalized him. We have been talking about this to my dad's brothers, but still no action from them. We came there to see and comfort them, but gosh... it's so sad to see him like that! He got to be hospitalized soon, even several flies has come to his legs! Hopefully my uncle will take him to be hospitalized at Tuesday and we will ask some relatives to help us pay the bill. I am really thankful that my family (hubby and mom) believe that God has blessed us to bless others, so we feel no burden at all when we have to share some money (and other blessings such as attention and prayers) to some one in needs.

Oh I also need to call my car insurance agent to claim 'some accidents'! Do you know that we can get auto insurance quote from internet as well?

I will close this post with happy news. Recently Clay is learning about Daniel on his bible study subject. They watched a film about Daniel as well at school and apparently Clay was really impressed with Daniel's life. He digs further in his children bible before he goes to sleep and he still doesn't satisfied with it, he reads directly from the Holy Bible. He also asked me to accompany him to watch Daniel's cartoon story I have bought the vcd long time ago but he never watched it at all. Last night, before we sleep, his dad told him the lesson we can learn about Daniel and how to applicate Daniel's good example on our life. When I arrived home from my relatives, Clay showed me something... he wrote Mene Mene Tekel Ufarsin (the writings on the wall) on a piece of paper! My mom and I praise him, and he wanted it to be tacked on the wall! Of course I allow him to do that, I am so proud of him!

Friday, February 8, 2008

How is your CNY? My family still celebrate Chinese New Year, though most of us are Christian. We want to keep Chinese tradition from generations to generations. Besides, this is the time to meet entire families and relatives. We don't do this at Christmas, we have a family feast at Chinese New Year.

I was busy visiting my families and relatives last two days, so I couldn't be online and visited your blog. Besides, it is a school holiday for Clay. So I have a lot of to do with the kids. How many red envelops (ang pao) did you prepared? I prepared more or less 65 ang pao this year!

At the first time I got married, I was so shocked that we have to prepare a big amount of money for ang pao.... 40 angpao for my hubby's family and only 4 for my family... sobs..sobs... sobs... hahahaha... and as the time goes by... the family is getting bigger and bigger... this year we share 45 angpao for my hubby's family and 20 ang pao for my family. We also have to attend 4 times family gathering in two days. Can you imagine how much fat I have to burn? Ha ha ha ha....

Last Wednesday Feb 6, 2008.... we have dinner at my SIL house. I bought that young crab with meat floss I've told you before. We call the crab, kepiting soka, young crab that can be eaten with the shell. Here's the picture:

That is my in-laws family.We are blessed with a harmonious family.All women wore a red shirt at CNY feast!That is part of our tradition as well.

Thursday, 7th February 2008

We had misoa for our breakfast. My mom-in-law really keeps the chinese tradition. She made misoa for each of us a day before, and after dinner last Wednesday, we all brought it home for breakfast on CNY. I think it is a symbol of long life and blessings... never ask its meaning...

After breakfast, we went to my parent-in-law's house to greet them Gong Xi and share the ang pao. They insisted that we had to have lunch together over there! Full already by our breakfast, now we ate again..*doh*

Finished our lunch, we visited my grandma and my mom at my sister's house. I didn't took a picture there... my grandma is sick, she fell down at the bathroom last Sunday. Thank God her bone is okay, but her back and waist are hurt so bad that she can't move. I feel so sorry about her. We also met our uncle and auntie there.

Around 2 pm, we went to my dad's big brother. I really love this big family as I spent my first years in my childhood with them all. I was very happy to see many relatives were also there, but that meant I have to prepare more unexpected ang pao addition! Ha ha ha ha.... anyway, this year our family has a resolutionto be a blessing for others. With this point of view, we can stay happy though we spent more money because that means we can be blessings for others. We never think win or loose anymore, we never count how much we can get from others anymore, we never grumble anymore. We are happier! Really!

This is some of my relatives... the oldest one in blue shirt is my dad's big brother. Beside him, is my dad's younger brother, and the woman in black is my dad's older sister. To be among them is one of my favorite thing to do!!

At 5 we have to attend my Mom-in-law's family for dinner! We were so tired and to be honest I felt rather reluctant. But then, I remember that I should be thankful to gave lots of families and relatives. Families are blessings! That reason can keep me happy till night, happy to meet my hubby's relatives as well though there is no special feeling for them.. hahahaha.. I rarely meet them, and have no attachment at all, but now I can enjoy my time among them. We didn't take pictures with them, but here's the food!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Clay will scream when he sees this picture...This is Clay’s favorite movies… he really loves Diego and Dora the Explorer…

He also loves Barney, together with his cousin Melody, they adore that Big Purple Dino very much. Clay doesn’t like long movie such as Pinochio, Toy’s Story, Madagascar and those kinds of movies… he feels that kind of movies are too intense for him! I don't know now, but when he was younger, we watched Dumbo together and he cried hard when Mommy Dumbo's feet was chained. He insisted to stop watching and asked me why the mommy was chained... he is really a gentle hearted boy, isn't he?

He is 7 years old now... and just now he says he likes Cars and Happy Feet. Happy Feet is the first and one and only movie we watched together at movie theater! At the first time he also feels intense and scared, but then we bought the dvd version and he doesn't feel scared anymore. I think I should teach him to watch movie, to make his fear less... do you think so? Yesterday hubby and Cliff watched Bee Movie and Clay refused to join them... not sure why, whether he doesn't like the duration or he is still the same, can't bear the intense feeling.

Clifford loves Teletubies very much... ha ha ha.. too old fashioned for a kid, isn't he? ha ha ha... Teletubies was famous 7 years ago! I don't know why, but Cliff just falls in love with them from the first sight! He calls them 'monyet' or monkeys! LOL...."Mama... dede wants monyet...." he says.. ha ha ha .... he calls himself dede, dede means younger brother.

Cliff will scream when he sees this picture...Do you know what is my favorite movies? Hm... I rarely watch movies nowadays... after I am a mom. So my favorite movies all time are old ones... ha ha ha... My Best Friend's Wedding for sure... Pretty Woman, Sleepless in Seattle, Titanic and The Game.

Oh, I have one obsession in my life that has never been come true... hi hi hi... I really love to watch F4 concert in Hongkong!! Ha ha ha... and I have the vcv of it... I watched it with Clay over and over again, dancing hysterically together with him.. ha ha ha... and from years ago, I wish I could watch it at my sister's home theater!! Together with other F4 fans if I can, but if it is impossible, I want to watch it hm... with somebody lah..not alone.. with Clay or with whoever who can share my excitement.. ha ha ha.. so silly am I? Why do I want to watch it in Home theater? With surrounded sound and home theater lighting, I can imagine the real concert!! Most of all, I can see their gorgeous faces very clearly in that big screen!! Then I will S C R E A A A A M!!!! ha ha ha...

PS. This is the latest MV of F4. I just watched and recorded their latest concert last Saturday! Then I 'teach' Cliff how to sway with F4 songs... my hubby just shaked his head, hopelessly... ha ha ha ha...

What I mean here is, my hubby needs an executive desk so he can work at home as well. Now, his car is his mobile office... hahahaha.. he brings many things home and then in the morning, he brings them again to his office. Some (many) papers and stuffs finally stay in his car as well... and the problem of doing this is, he often lose many things or sometimes, forget to bring something with him... if this happens, it is a @^%#^(*&)(@*)&#$%#(^*@ for him... hihihihi...

That is my house's map (click to enlarge)... hehehe.. not to precise but cute drawing, I know.. hahahaha...Where do you think I should an executive desk for my hubby to put all his stuff there? For now, we only think that little table on the corner is the place(RED corner). I wish there is an interior design blog buddy who can give me suggestion to arrange my house! hehehehe.. free advice for me? :-P

CliffordBy the way, Cliff is better now..thank you so much for all attention. He is still sleeping.. hehehe.. sorry for not updating this blog 2 days... busy busy busy... after taking care of Cliff by myself while he is sick, now he only wants me to take care of him.. and the maid always keeps herself busy that I really have to take care my sons.. hahaha.. it is indeed my responsibility anyway.. hahaha..

MaidMaid things... I have no maid blues too much anymore... *wink to LB* my maid is still here, she decides not to accept the engagement proposal! Phew.... but... yesterday her mom called her crying, she is sick for weeks... problems and problems seem to occupy my maid endlessly! *sigh* I pray for her, I pray for her mom as well... I hope she can solve her problem one by one.. by the way, she is 19. In her age I think the emotions, hormones, and love matters are very common, right?

Bless OthersAnyway, whatever will be, will be. God never forsakes me, He promises me that. My maid will not work for me forever, things change, life goes on... like my hubby said last night, we have to race to bless others... we should teach our children as well to have 'blessing' focus... we are learning to bless other people in every deeds, talks and decisions... focus to be blessing! That's all, and we will be much happier! So, if I am not here or at your blogs, I might be busy to be blessings in my real life... hahahaha... don't worry about me... hahahaha...

Lost and Found:I lost my worries about houseworks and maid things,I found how to be a blessing for others! Yay!

PS. I love you, hubby, thank you for this great idea...PSS. I love you, Big Daddy.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Hi everyone, busy for Christmas? I use this Sunday to rest and rest at home, charging my energy for tomorrow! I have to stand by at church from 2 PM until night, on 24 -25 December... there will be 4 Christmas Special Services in two days, at 4 PM and 7 PM each days, that means we will have 4 times performances plus reading a poem in the morning Christmas service at 8 AM on Tuesday.

My hubby will bring handycam just incase he can find good seat, close enough to the stage to shoot the performance. I doubt if he can do it as he will have to take care of Cliff as well (we'll bring our maid by the way). Anyway, Clay will be there as well so I think he can help to shoot the performance.. my mom will be among the players as well! :-) Wanna see my mom? I took some shots at rehearsal..

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

This month I was surprised by really striking news that two couples of my friends can't survive in their marriage. I really feel sad for them, as the husbands are my close friends since we were high school. They really have nice personalities and it never occurred to me that they can break up their marriage because of another women! Just hearing the news did break my heart... it really hurts!

I don't blame them, as unfaithful men, because I realize that relationship break up has a causal effect, action and reaction between husband and wife. There are many unfaithful men out there but I don't believe that these two friends are that kind of men! Hey, don't get me wrong, I also don't judge their wife not treat them well as their husbands... there must be so many complex reasons behind relationship break up, so complex and serious that they have to sacrifice their marriage future and their children!

Ed Cole said that if you want to know about heaven, get married! As in a blessed marriage we will find joy, happiness and beauty just like in heaven! But.. he also said that if you never go to the hell and want to know about it, get married! We can be really suffered, troubled and so much sorrow!

My opinion about marriageMarriage is not an easy and smooth path. Marriage needs our efforts, prayers and willingness to learn and change. According to a marriage survey, 90% marriages are in trouble and 70% are in serious trouble! Anyone here who has been married without any problems? Please drop me some comments I want to know your marriage-without-problems-secret.

Some tips for wives:

Wives, submit to your husband as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church...wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Submit to our husband means 3 things:1. Respect our husband as the head of our family, respect and obey his decisions no matter how we don't agree with it. The most important thing that men need is being respected. If he can't get any respect from his wife, he will find it from another woman! May be our husband did make mistakes and deceived you before, or may be you were hurt because of his dishonesty, or may be you are much more competent and cleverer than him... still be patient,pray and try to respect him as to the Lord!

2. Be a helper... don't be a disturber. Use your humble and gentle words to lift him up when he is tired and stressful. Women are born to talk... they need 45-60 minutes per day to talk while men thought that women should only talk 20-25 minutes PER WEEK to talk! At Czechoslovakia there's a survey states that male priests only talk 3420 words per day, male students talk around 8000 words per day while women talk 15300 words per day and the record is achieved by mother-in-laws, they talk 19300 words per day! I agree with my friend, Karen from Waterlearner, we have to learn how to shut up!

3. Be gentle.

Wives, be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ love the church and gave himself up for her.... husbands ought to love heir wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Love your wives and give yourself up for her! The most important thing that women need is to be loved. Love your wives means:1. Say and express your love to her. You can sing Rod's Steward's song: Have I told you lately that I love you every single day for your beloved wife. Love her no matter what... although her shape is much different from your first date... although she is not as beautiful as before.... although she can't cook as well as your mom.. love her as you love yourself! There are many ways to express your love to your wife, find it!2. Love her means be responsible. Men are physically bigger and stronger than women, you are responsible to protect her and your children. Be a responsible leader in a family, don't let your wife mend everything that broken in your household... :-) A faithfulness of a wife is proven when their husband is in bad condition and trouble, but a faithfulness of a man is proven when he is successful at his work and he still can be faithful to his family!3. Willingness to share your life with your wife. Learn to understand that woman needs to talk and share her days with you. Learn to listen to her despite of your stressful and tiring day. Men usually have a big vision while women only need your presence, your ears to listen and your shoulder to lean on!

Who has to change first?Who do you think have to change in the first place? Women should respect her husband first then husbands can love her or vice versa? The answer is ME... it's me... it's us. Don't hope other to change, change yourself!

What I can do...

Back to my friend's the problems, all I can do for them is praying. I don't think I can interfere too much in their relationship, not only because I am a woman and my friends are men, but also they become so introvert and shut themselves from their 'normal' world. They live in their 'own' world with their own problems, and just don't want to hear anybody. Too sad.. I do pray for these should be lovely couples, I do care a lot! I believe God hears their wife's cries and tears and only God can mend broken relationship. Hope for a miracle so they can get back together again!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

One of our holiday high light is BABY ZOO.... we visited Baby Zoo at Safari Park and have opportunity to take some pictures with some of them! The bird park is at the entrance of the baby zoo, so we will have to pass this great bird park before we meet some baby animals. We also can see baby kangaroo, baby hippo, baby monkeys and orang utans, and many more baby animals! Our favorite experience is taking photographs with them!

This baby orang utan's name is Dhika or Mahardhika. He is adorable but not so cheerful at that time. I don't know why... if I can speak his language I would have asked him! :-)

So, what do you think? What a happy family with 3 kids! LOL.. but I use a wrong shampoo for the third son Dhika so he is so hairy! LOL... do you think Dhika looks like me or my hubby? hahaha...

We also meet one month old baby lions... so such a sweetie! They just like puppies... so cute!

This white tiger is 7 months old. He is as nice as a doll... I don't fear of him at all! Actually there is also a young leopard, but this white tiger is more tame and rare... if you were have this opportunity, what will you choose, leopard or white tiger?

Adventure at Safari Park offers so many attractions that make us busy! We can feed the elephant with some carrots or even ride the elephant for only $1 !

One more thing that really impressive is a Noah Ark! This is very beautifully made that I love it very much! I stared of it, noticing every animals that are on board... this is a great piece of art for me.

Inside this ark we can see and feed a dolphin as well.. As a dolphin freak like me, I will not miss the opportunity to visit my favorite creature in the world!

I also buy a dolphin mug to complete my dolphin collection... but I don't have the picture now. If you want to see the mug I will take a shot later, for request only... :-)

Monday, October 1, 2007

Morning everybody... Cliff is on my lap now, taking his milk from his bottle. Soon I will off to take him for a nap but I can't wait to share my stories about Cliff's birthday so here it is....

Sept 25th so early in the morning, grandpa came to bring Chinese noodle for Clifford. In Chinese tradition, we have to eat noodles every birthday so we have a long age as long as noodles. This is our breakfast every birthdays... I love it very much! This noodle is really delicious and full of nutrition I tell you.

Still in the morning, I took Cliff to a bakery and he wanted to buy a little cake with a clown on top. We bought it for him just for a symbol of his birthday as we plan to give him a celebration on Sunday 30th. He bite the cake on our car... as simple as that..

At night we celebrate our special day by playing fireworks under the moon light... Janice was also doing the same, I think many Chinese played fireworks at full moon festival... not sure.

We lighted several kinds of fireworks and that was the first time for Cliff holding the firework by himself. We were amazed he doesn't scare at all! In fact he asked for more fireworks every day now! Clay asked another firework celebration for his birthday as well... "Mom, I want firework as my birthday present!" Well... how can I refuse his request? It was so memorable and children should have happy childhood memories! It's not about the price... it is all about beautiful memories.

Sometimes parents provide expensive things for their children but it is not long lasting. A memorable experience will be kept in their life forever... that is what I call precious moments! That is what I always pursue to give to my family.

That's what we did on Sept 25th.... and yesterday, Sept 30th we invited our relatives to have lunch together in our home. The menu is rainbow "Tumpeng." Tumpeng is a cone of steamed rice surrounded by some side dishes. We also order Chinese food : crab and shrimp, fried with salty egg and fried noodles (remember our Chinese tradition about noodles).

This is the birthday boy with the backdrop

Before we ate, we sang Happy Birthday to you and blog the candle!

Unfortunately Clifford is too sleepy to celebrate so he didn't enjoy it too much. Therefore I took him to nap while the guesses were having lunch! The birthday boy slept for 3 hours more and all the guesses have gone home when he was awake... LOL. We also have a monkey attraction (we call it MONKEY DOGER) in front of our house.

All of these happens when Clifford was sleeping... hahaha... Cliff often saw that monkey doger anyway... look at his picture with a monkey named DENOK ... the monkey refused to let Cliff's hand free!This is not the end yet...will continue the story after we clean up the after party house! Wish we have a Miele vacuum cleaner to make chores easier!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Hi readers, I am so happy today. 8 years ago, on this day, I married my best friend! A man that God has given me to respect, love and honor... his name is Hendra. I always remember my spiritual leader Benny Solihin said to me, he wished someday I would have a happy family. He said that when I was broken hearted! LOL... and amen! His prayer comes true. I met my hubby and we grow together in our marriage. Honey, if you read this please leave me a comment!

Being marriage for 8 years is not a boring journey for us. From the beginning we asked God to lead our home... this is our prayer

God help us to remember when we first met

and the strong love that grew between us,To work that love into practical thingsso nothing can divide us,We ask for words both kind and loving,and hearts always ready to ask forgiveness,as well as to forgive,Dear Lord, we put our marriage into Thy hands,Thank you O, LordAmen

We truly realize that unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.

This is also Clifford 2nd birthday. Kristheoren Clifford Teja is my 2nd son. He was born as our 6th wedding anniversary gift! It was on Sept 25th, 2005

He was 3,82 kg and 54 cm when he was born.

He is funny and outgoing kids. He always smiles, just like his dad.

I love to take his pictures... he is so expressive and cute!

Now he is 2 years old... he likes to explore and learn anything.I wish I can freeze the day and enjoy his cuteness forever!HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLIFF!